Wednesday, June 03, 2009

E3 2009: Microsoft challenging Nintendo, Sony finished

So, the three press briefings have come and gone. What remains? Quite obviously, Microsoft had the biggest surprise in store for us. Project Natal is certainly ambitious and may serve to position the Xbox360 quite differently in terms of target demographic. Nintendo, while briefly showing that odd finger sensor had almost no surprises when it comes to hardware. Team Ninja working on a new Metroid game was the big news of the briefing and it is hard to exaggerate the ramifications of this collaboration, given Nintendo’s poor track record with third party developers in the past.

Immediately, arguments ensued over whether Xbox360’s Natal or Wii’s Motion Plus will be the more accurate system. But that appears to be an academic debate. The big question in my mind is: where does that leave Sony? The truly gargantuan sales figures of a ´Brain Age´ and a ´Wii Fit´ clearly show where the gaming mainstream has shifted to (or rather, where the new mainstream has been discovered). This is precisely where Nintendo is positioned and it clearly is where Microsoft would like to be with Natal. Sony, however, will have nothing to offer this new mainstream. If they really are working on a Wiimote-like controller themselves, they will show it no earlier than E3 2010 and it will launch no earlier than 2011. This will be too late for this generation because, in my mind, by 2011, Microsoft and Nintendo will be talking about their successor consoles. And with the next generation of consoles, no one will care about a PS3 peripheral.

It seems quite obvious that the PlayStation3 will be falling behind even further, after the E3 announcements. While mainstream gaming has shifted (and opened up to millions new gamers in the process), Sony has remained where the mainstream used to be. Of course, ´God of War III´ will be a spectacular game. But, in terms of sales figures, it will be a niche product and fail to move substantial amounts of hardware. Especially given that Sony boss Stringer will not allow a price cut until Christmas at the earliest. I am absolutely sure: Sony will remain in third place for this generation and I am even less optimistic about Sony’s progress in the next console cycle.

EDIT I stand corrected. Sony did show motion controls other than the Sixaxis. I was unable to watch the Sony conference and really had not seen the motion control section in Joystiq’s live transcription. Sorry. Thanks to Some Guy for pointing out my mistake.

It is interesting to note that I wrote about the patent most likely implicated by this technology back in 2005 and I even tried out a similar prototype at the 2001 ECTS, London’s former videogame expo. There, a webcam connected to the PlayStation2 was tuned to certain bright colours and had the dimensions of various tools and weapons stored in memory. Holding a brightly coloured plastic sword or mace, the console could estimate a 3D position based on the object’s dimensions by comparing them to the actual view in perspective. This way, the same weapon was replicated in the game and moved almost in real-time to my movements. Considering this was fake 3D – since the console only estimated a spatial position based on the distorted perspective of a 2D image – it worked pretty well. It seems to me that the demo shown at the Sony conference was almost the same technology and will work the same way.

However, even if the technology shown will be available next year and works well, it is still no comparison to Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s real 3D motion controls. The only advantage is that Sony’s approach should work with a standard webcam, which will make it the cheapest of the three. But the experience may be less immersive, too. So I stand by my initial judgement: Microsoft may be successfully moving on what now is Nintendo’s turf – the new mainstream – but Sony will most likely fail to catch up.

- Galaxy 2 looks exactly like it's predecessor with some very subtle improvements. No major update on the engine. It looks like a mission pack. Nothing mind boggling.

- Red Steel 2 looks ok. I'm not terribly impressed by the graphics. But I guess it's too early to judge. No blood is a joke tho. A BIG JOKE.

- Spyborgs looks good.

- Metroid Other M looks very promising. The trailer is very impressive. This is how Metroid is supposed to look like in 3D. I'm glad that Retro isn't making this one since their last two Prime titles didn't live up to the hype at all. Prime 2 and 3 felt kinda stale and boring imho. I hope this game is more fun than Metroid Prime 2 and 3.

-Dead Space looks quite good actually. But its on rails just like Resi.....

The motion sensing hardware/software isn't bundled with the console, so hardly anyone will have it. Therefore, no third parties will make software for it, which means no one will buy it. Cue the endless loop.

The motion sensing hardware/software isn't bundled with the console, so hardly anyone will have it. Therefore, no third parties will make software for it, which means no one will buy it. Cue the endless loop.

June 04, 2009 2:46 PMexactly my thinking add the poor point /mouse support nether support it only wii does add no rumble add no imursion speaker add no analog stick add the camera isea is always laggy and loose compared to the advanced senser option

THERE BOTH CASUAL WAGGLE PRETENDING TO OFFER THE PERFECTION ON WIIMOTE AND WII MOTION PLUS

PS3 MOTION = 1CM ACCURATE

NATAL EVEN WORSE

WII = 1MM PERFECT AIM

WII= 1MM PERFECT SPEED FORCE PERFECT WII MOTION PLUS

WII HD SOONER RATHER THAN LATER

I REST MY CASE UR HOMOR FIND SONY AND MICRSOFT GUITY OF COPYING IN A WEAK WAY WAY WAY TO LATE

What I did get out of the sony press was that there motion sensor was a combiantion of tracking the ball with the camera AND sensors in the stick that they held.

I dont know where this "1cm accuracy" comes from? When I looked at the demo it seemed to be exactly like the motion+ except with more options when it comes grafiks, motion tracking of the face (enhance the 3d depth with tracking of the face in fps)

henrik:::: SONY CLEARLY STATED MY FRIEND that the PS3 MOTION WAS ACCURATE TO A MAXIMUM OF 7MM AROUND 1CM... THEY STATED THE SENSERS INSIDE ARE AROUND 7CM ACCURATE THEY STATED THAT ITS A FACT EVERY ARTICLE IV READ ON PS3 MOTION STATES THAT VERY FACT ,,(U FANBOY).. STOP TRYING TO SAY THAT WASN'T STATED BECAUSE IT CLEARLY WAS STATED AS """FACT""" I DONT LIE I REPORT THE TRUTH ONLY....

WIIMOTE AND NUNCHUCK WITHOUT WII MOTION PLUS HAVE A TIGHTER MOTION ABILITY THAN PS3 MOTION WITH OUT WII MOTION PLUS WIIMOTE IS CLEARLY MUCH TIGHTER THAN 7MM

AND THE WIIMOTES POINT/AIM MOUSE TRACKER IS ALSO 1MM ACCURATE ITS PERFECT FOR FPS AND TIGHT PRECISION AIMING AND POINTING...

PS3 HAS NO MOUSE/POINTER TRACKER IT ONLY HAS LIGHT ORBS SO AGAIN PERFECT AIM AT HIGH SPEED IS IMPOSABLE,, ITS A WAVE CONTROLLER NOT A 1TO1 3D PERFECTION CONTROLLER,, LIKE WII HAS IM NOT FANBOYING HERE IM QUOTING ENGINEERING FACTS,, (IM A SKILLED MECHANICAL ENGINEER AND I BUILD AND REPAIR PRECISION CNC TURNING AND MILLING MACHINES AND YES IV WORKED WITH GYROSCOPES ALSO)I KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT....

THE ORBS LIGHT IS TRACKED BY CAMERA

1 LAGGY, 2 NOT PRECISION PERFECT ITS MORE A LOOSE WAVE LIKE CONTROL JUST A TIGHTER EYETOY BASICALLY

EVERY SINGLE WAVE THING THAT PS3 MOTION DEMO SHOWED WII CAN DO BETTER AND TIGHTER PLUS THE POINTER MOUSE ALSO

NOW WII MOTION PLUS ADDS EVERY WRIST MOVEMENT FINGER TWIST EVERY TWITCH TO PERFECTION SO A TENNIS RACKET CAN BE MIMICKED PERFECTLY NOT JUST THE SWING (AKA PS3 MOTION) BUT EVERY DAM MOVEMENT UR HAND AND WRIST AND ARM MAKE

I.E PERFECT REAL WORLD PHYSICS

BOTH PS3 MOTION AND NATAL SIMPLY CAN NOT REPEAT CANNOT DO THIS ITS A ENGINERRING FACT SORRY FRIEND BUT IM 100% RIGHT HERE

ADD SPEAKER ADD ANALOG STICK ADD RUMBLE

YOU HAVE PERFECT CORE GAME IMURSION CNTROLS

VS SONYS AND MICRSOFTS CLEARLY CASUAL VERSION

TRY LOOKING AT THINGS AND THEN THINKING ABOUT IT

BOTH SONY AND MICROSOFT HAD FAKED DEMOS

PS3 MOTION HAD A GUY (NOT AIMING AT ANYTHING) BUT THROING NINJA BLASDES AT TARGETS AND OVER ADSADURATING HIS MOVEMENTS TO PRETEND THE TERCH WAS COOL

BUT HOLD ON HE WASNT ACCTUALLY AIMING ANYWERE

IT DIDNT MAKE SENSE DID IT

NATAL KID SCANS SKATEBOARD THEN PLAYS WITH OUT THE SKATEBOARD

WHY WOULD YOU NEED TO SCAN SOMETHING YOUR NOT USING

AGAIN A LIE

WIIMOTE AND WII-MOTION -PLUS DESTROY THE COMPETITION

AND WII HD WILL LIKLY HAVE WII MOTION PLUS AND IR POITER MOUSE IN EACH HAND WITH RUMBLE AND SPEAKER IN EACH HAND ALSO AND MAYBE A WIISPEAK& CAMERA OUT THE BOX AS WELL AS HD

PostPosted: 6 Jun 09 12:20 am Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this postAt their E3 press conferences, both Sony and Microsoft did what we all actually expected them to do at last year's show: Reveal their motion control "solutions" to Nintendo's Wii. However, according to worldwide President Satoru Iwata, Nintendo had tried what both of their competitors are planning to use, and rejected them.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Iwata explained that they had at one time attempted to make use of camera-based interfaces for motion control, but found that the accelerometers they eventually went with yielded better results.

Of course, that's not to say it won't work. "Until they say when they're releasing it, how much it costs and what software it comes with, we won't know whether that is the route we should have taken," Iwata said, adding "However . . . I think they couldn't choose to release exactly the same thing."

But does it bother him at all that Sony and Microsoft appear to be trying to take a slice of Nintendo's pie? Actually, the Times reports, he's happy that the innovation which Nintendo brought to the marketplace and made Wii a hit is catching on and becoming an industry standard.

"Companies whose people said that motion-sensing wouldn't work are now proposing motion sensors," he said.

Nintendo follows the footsteps of Sony and Microsoft by slashing the price of its Wii system, where you can now pick it up for $199.99. Of course, taking a look around at online deals might help you save more as selected stores do offer some sort of further rebate or throw in a free game of your choice at that price point.

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